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insurance and the vets....i dont know what to do...

Mimi had to go in for xrays today, she went for a check up for LP last week and quoted me £155 for the consultation with the ortho, the sedation and the xrays which i was able to claim from my insurance and pay the £65 excess. So we went back today and booked her in then i had to sign a form and the cost has gone up to over £250!!!!

I ended up forgetting to ask why because then she asked who i was insured by then when she found out it was with Argos she said i would have to pay in full then claim back myself. I asked why and they explained that they have tried to claim from Argos before and it has taken over 5 months to get the money and even then they put up a fight, they also said i was supposed to have given an advance claim a week before which would have been when we went for the check up so why couldnt the vet have told me then that we had to do that. I had to control myself so i didnt get upset. They said they would see what they could do and i may be able to just pay the excess but they would have to see with the manager as they dont like working with Argos.

I was also told i probably wont be able to switch my insurance to another company now because of this problem so i am stuck. If she has to have surgery they said it will cost around £700-£800 then because she is compensating for her right knee she will probably need surgery on the other one, so there is another £700-£800 which probably wont be paid for if Argos get their way. Am i better off just canceling my insurance and putting my money away in a savings acount and paying cash for any treatment???

I really dont know what to do, i feel let down by the insurance company but i also feel let down by the vets for not telling me this problem with the insurance before now and for increasing the cost of this visit.

I ended up forgetting to ask why because then she asked who i was insured by then when she found out it was with Argos she said i would have to pay in full then claim back myself. I asked why and they explained that they have tried to claim from Argos before and it has taken over 5 months to get the money and even then they put up a fight, they also said i was supposed to have given an advance claim a week before which would have been when we went for the check up so why couldnt the vet have told me then that we had to do that. I had to control myself so i didnt get upset. They said they would see what they could do and i may be able to just pay the excess but they would have to see with the manager as they dont like working with Argos.

Poor you, I can understand your frustration but
I don't think its that unusual for us, the customer, to have to pay the vet up front and then claim back from the insurance company - certainly this is the way I have worked with two different vets in Dublin - maybe it's different in the UK.
Hopefully Arogs have speeded things up and your claim will be paid quickly.
Once you start to claim with an insurance company, a new company won't cover this condition, so once you are claiming, you are more or less tied to that particular company.
Why do you think that Argos won't cover the claims - is it because of the 'advance notice'? Is that a condition on your insurance policy?
Personally - because I have to claim regularly with my two- I couldn't consider not having insurance, but if I wasn't claiming I might question it.
Why don't you submit your claim to Argos, see how it goes, and then decide if it's worth having the insurance?

If you look through all the insurance-related threads on this site, you will soon see that there are almost as many opinions as there are people holding them!

It is quite usual for vets to ask for payment and then clients claim it back direct from insurance companies, and, sadly, it is almost impossible to change companies these days once your dog has a problem, as it will automatically be excluded by any other company.

I've contemplated just making my own savings many times over the years (currently paying £78 per month for my gang of four), but my own vet (who I trust implicitly and is not money-grabbing) always warns me about what would happen if any of them were to be involved in an accident. Whatever the costs of medications and routine surgery, the costs of emergency work are just astronomical - so I keep coughing up (and fuming with every annual hike!)

I think Charlifarley is right, and that you should just make your claim as soon as possible with Argos and see what happens before you make any other decisions. Good luck, and do let us know how you and Mimi get on.

From the time i signed the insurance forms i made sure i had a bit of money put away for things like the excess and things that were not covered like her spay and clippings, but as the forms said they would pay the vet direct i didnt think i would have to pay up front. I searched for feedback on the insurance on the internet and i really do wish i had searched before signing as there are hundreds of people who are advising people to stay away from argos as they will try to find anything they can to not pay out. I was already worrying how i would cope if she had to have surgery but having to worry about wether the vet will be paid or not, it is stressful. I have an appointment to pick her up, check the xrays and to see the ortho at 4 so i will be able to see what is wrong and how serious it is and i can work out if they are going to put the claim through or if i have to pay which may have to be in instalments. I will let you know what happens treatment wise and insurance wise.

I knew I couldnít find £1,200 up front, so my vet agreed to do a Pre-Authorisation Form, but also ask who I am insured with. I heard before that they wonít let you do this with certain insurances. I am with M&S and it took 8 days to authorise this. I also heard Argos takes their time to pay out, M&S paid the vet within 10 days. LP is not a life threatening problem so you could wait for a Pre- Authorisation if your vets accept a Pre authorisation from Argos. Donít forget there is also the Hydro and Physio afterwards. As my Ebony was Grade 3 she had lost 50% of her muscle so I go to hydro/physio once a week for the next 3/4 month.

Also you said that maybe her other leg need going? Ebony also has LP on her other leg only grade 1. The surgeon said that it doesnít need doing and the Physio told me that with a lot of heel walking (thatís what I have to do 10 min 3 times a day) the muscle will tighten and the LP wonít get as bad as the other leg.

I am glad I changed my vets and the new vets have an orthopaedic surgeon there. He could tell me straight without an X-ray what grades Ebonyís LP was. He said that there was no need to put a dog under anaesthetic twice that he does the Xray on the day of the operation. I know vets do these operations but I am glad I changed vets and let a specialist do it.

You need to look on your insurance and see how much you are covered for and if it is a lifetime policy or not. And yes you are stuck, no other insurance wil cover you for LP now.

I have just come back from picking up mimi and there is good news and bad news, good news is they took the claim form so all i had to pay was the excess but if it falls through they will get in touch and i will have to pay the extra £118, they lowered the price to just one xray even though they took a few. Another good thing there is no sign of anything wrong with her left leg at all both on the xray and manipulation so if that does need doing in the future it wont be for a while so if i do need to pay for it then i will have time to save for it. Now for the bad part. She does need surgery on her right and is going to cost between £650 and £800 which i am going to have to pay up front then try to claim back. They did say that it wasnt urgent so we could wait a little while if we wanted so we could get the funds but the longer we leave it the worse it will get right. I also looked into my policy and even though we are on the middle policy it is only a year policy and not a lifetime which i didnt realise. I was told that when she does have the surgery she will be free and wont need to be in a cast. Also she will be up and about almost back to normal in just a few weeks.